The content of Application No. TOKUGAN 2000-354056 which was filed in Japan on Nov. 21, 2000 and on which the claim to priority for this application is based, is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disc apparatus in which an optical disc is irradiated with a laser beam from an optical pickup, to thereby record and/or reproduce information, and an adjusting method for an optical disc apparatus, and further to an entertainment apparatus including an optical disc apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
The optical disc apparatus is provided with an optical disc rotating mechanism and an optical pickup, for recording and/or reproducing optical disc information, such as of a CD (compact disc), DVD (digital versatile disc), CD-ROM (CD read-only memory), DVD-ROM (DVD read-only memory), CD-R (CD-recordable), and DVD-R (DVD-recordable). The optical disc rotating mechanism is adapted for supporting an optical disc, and the optical pick up, for irradiating a signal recording side of the optical disc by a laser beam.
Generally, the optical disc apparatus requires a laser beam to be normal to a signal recording side of an optical disc.
However, during production, the optical disc is subject to errors such as when molding component parts or assembling parts together, with a resultant error also in respect of a relative position between an optical disc rotating mechanism and an optical pickup, which may cause a laser beam failing to be normal to an optical disc.
For absorbing such production errors to enhance the normality of a laser beam, there is a known method in which an optical disc rotating mechanism is mounted on a main chassis and an optical pickup is mounted on a subsidiary chassis, and in which the main and subsidiary chassis are interconnected in a rotatable manner, allowing for the subsidiary chassis to be adjusted in inclination relative to the main chassis. More specifically, a spring is interposed between the main and subsidiary chassis, and a bolt inserted into the subsidiary chassis is screwed into a threaded hole formed in the main chassis. Then, the bolt is driven tight against resiliency of the spring, so that the subsidiary chassis is adjusted to have an appropriate inclination to the main chassis. After the adjustment, an adhesive is filled between the bolt and the hole, to thereby prevent rotation of the bolt.
However, as using an adhesive, this method inherently involves complicated work. Moreover, for the time to be secured for the adhesive to become solid, it is difficult to reduce the production time, in addition to the difficulty of readjustment after solidification of the adhesive.
The present invention is made with such points in view. It therefore is an object of the present invention to provide an optical disc apparatus, an adjusting method for an optical apparatus, and an entertainment apparatus including an optical disc apparatus, with improved workability in adjustment for enhancement of the normality of a laser beam to an optical disc, as well as in readjustment to be facilitated.
To achieve the object, according to an aspect of the present invention, an optical disc apparatus comprises a main chassis, a rotary member having a plurality of first engagement parts, a subsidiary chassis, an elastic member, a projection, a spiral inclined surface, and a second engagement part. An optical disc rotating mechanism is mounted to the main chassis. A rotation axis of the rotary member is held in a fixed position relative to the main chassis, and the plurality of first engagement parts are arrayed on a circular arc about the rotation axis. The subsidiary chassis supports an optical pickup to be slidable for movement, and is rotatably connected to the main chassis. The subsidiary chassis has an operating part disposed between the main chassis and the rotary member. The elastic member is disposed between the main chassis and the subsidiary chassis, and biases the operating part of the subsidiary member toward the rotary member. The projection is provided to one of the operating part of the subsidiary chassis and the rotary member, to project toward the other thereof. The spiral inclined surface is provided to the other of the operating part of the subsidiary chassis and the rotary member, receiving a biasing force from the elastic member, to be brought into pressing contact with the projection, and is configured, as the rotary member is rotated, to slidingly contact the projection, changing a position of the operating part relative to the rotary member. The second engagement part is provided to one of the subsidiary chassis and the elastic member, biased toward the rotary member, and configured for engaging with an arbitrary one of the plurality of first engagement parts to prevent rotation of the rotary member.
For enhancement of a normality of a laser beam relative to an optical disc, an adjustment of a relative position between the optical disc rotating mechanism and the optical pickup is performed by rotating the rotary member against a biasing force of the second engagement part. As the rotary member is rotated, the projection is slid to move on the inclined surface, changing a relative position between the rotary member and the operating part of the subsidiary chassis. Because the rotary member is rotatably supported by the main chassis and its rotation axis is held in a fixed position relative to the main chassis, when the relative position between the rotary member and the subsidiary chassis is changed, an inclination of the subsidiary chassis to the main chassis is changed. As a result, the relative position between the optical disc rotating mechanism and the optical pickup is adjusted, and the adjusted condition is maintained by an engaging force between a first engagement part and the second engagement part biased toward the rotary member.
The adjusted condition can be maintained without use of an adhesive, allowing for adjustment workability to be improved, as well as readjustment to be facilitated.
An entertainment apparatus is provided with an optical disc apparatus according to the present invention.
Artisan will fully understand the above and further objects and features of the present invention by reading preferred embodiments of the invention described herein in connection with the accompanying drawings, including features recited in the appended claims, as well as explicit and implicit effects and advantages of the invention, including those to be apparent through implementation of the invention.